EP
Is It Any Wonder?
Is It Any Wonder? is a six-track EP from David Bowie, released on 14 February 2020 on Parlophone. It gathers older Bowie and Tin Machine songs, most of them re-recorded during the sessions for Earthling and the rehearsals for the Earthling Tour in early 1997, alongside a few new tracks that came from the same period.
It sits as a companion to Bowie's late-1990s work, when he was folding drum and bass and a harder, more electronic edge into his art rock. For anyone who loves Earthling, it offers another look at how he was reshaping his own back catalogue in the studio and on the rehearsal floor. The Tin Machine material is a particular draw, since it shows songs from that band's era given a fresh treatment by Bowie himself.
Is It Any Wonder?: tracklist, credits and charts
6 tracks · 29:12Tracklist
- 1The Man Who Sold the World (ChangesNowBowie version)David Bowie4:02
- 2I Can’t Read ’97David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels5:29
- 3Stay ’97David Bowie7:31
- 4Baby Universal ’97David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels3:13
- 5NutsBowie, Gabrels, Plati5:22
- 6The Man Who Sold the World (Eno ‘live’ mix) (2020 remaster)David Bowie3:35
- Produced by
- David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels, Mark Plati, Reeves Gabrels & Mark Plati
- Recorded at
- Looking Glass Studios (New York City), The Factory
- Recorded
- 1995–98
- Mixed by
- Mark Plati, Brian Eno
- Mixed at
- Right Track Recording, Looking Glass Studios, Westside Studios
- Engineered by
- Mark Plati
- Label
- Parlophone
- Length
- 29:12
Line-up
- Gail Ann Dorsey · bass, background vocals
- Reeves Gabrels · guitar, synthesizer
- Mike Garson · piano, keyboard
- David Bowie · lead vocals
- Zachary Alford · drums (drum set)
- Mark Plati · keyboard
- Carlos Alomar · guitar · guest
- Peter Schwartz · synthesizer · guest
- Brian Eno · background vocals · guest
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 2020 | 10 |
| Scottish Albums · 2020 | 3 |
From MusicBrainz and Wikipedia. Only what the sources record is shown.
48.9
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
802
ListenBrainz listeners
8.7k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
3.2k
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 14 February
Every year →
More from David Bowie
Full discography →
David Bowie
1967
David Bowie
1969
The World of David Bowie
1970
The Man Who Sold the World
1970
Hunky Dory
1971
Do Anything You Say
1972
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
1972
Rebel Rebel / Queen Bitch / Sorrow / Amsterdam
1973
Images 1966–1967
1973
Aladdin Sane
1973
Pin Ups
1973
Diamond Dogs
1974
David Live
1974
Young Americans
1975
Station to Station
1976
ChangesOneBowie
1976
Low
1977
“Heroes”
1977
David Bowie Narrates Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf
1978
Stage
1978
Lodger
1979
David Bowie
1980
Scary Monsters… and Super Creeps
1980
The Best of Bowie
1980
Christiane F.: Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
1981
ChangesTwoBowie
1981
In Bertolt Brecht’s Baal
1982
Rare
1982
Supergroups
1983
Serious Moonlight
1983
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: The Motion Picture Soundtrack
1983
Let’s Dance
1983
Golden Years
1983
Fame and Fashion (David Bowie’s All Time Greatest Hits)
1984
Love You Till Tuesday
1984
Tonight
1984
Labyrinth: From the Original Soundtrack of the Jim Henson Film
1986
Never Let Me Down
1987
Glass Spider
1988
Sound + Vision
1989
Changesbowie
1990
Early On (1964–1966)
1991
Black Tie White Noise
1993
The Singles Collection
1993
The Buddha of Suburbia
1993
Live Santa Monica ’72
1994
RarestOneBowie
1995
1.Outside: The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle
1995
Earthling
1997
The Deram Anthology 1966–1968
1997
The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974
1997
The Best of David Bowie 1974/1979
1998
‘hours…’
1999
Liveandwell.com
2000
Bowie at the Beeb: The Best of the BBC Radio Sessions 68–72
2000
All Saints (Collected Instrumentals 1977–1999)
2001
Heathen
2002
Best of Bowie
2002
Reality
2003
Club Bowie: Rare and Unreleased 12″ Mixes
2003
Live EP (live at Fashion Rocks)
2005
The Collection
2005
The Platinum Collection
2005
Bowie 1965!
2006
The Best of David Bowie 1980/1987
2007
Outside / Earthling / Hours / Heathen / Reality
2007
iSELECT
2008
VH1 Storytellers
2009
Space Oddity
2009
A Reality Tour
2010
The Next Day
2013
Pin-Ups Radio Show
2013
The Next Day Extra EP
2013
Nothing has changed.
2014
Five Years 1969–1973
2015
★
2016
Who Can I Be Now? 1974–1976
2016
Lazarus
2016
Legacy
2016
No Plan
2017
Live Nassau Coliseum ’76
2017
Cracked Actor (Live Los Angeles ’74)
2017
A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982)
2017
Welcome to the Blackout (live London ’78)
2018
Loving the Alien (1983–1988)
2018
Glastonbury 2000
2018
Conversation Piece
2019
ChangesNowBowie
2020
I’m Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74)
2020
The Width of a Circle
2021
Toy
2021
Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001)
2021
Brilliant Adventure EP
2022
Toy E.P.
2022
Fun Mix
2022
Moonage Daydream: A Film by Brett Morgen
2022
Divine Symmetry
2022
Rock ’n’ Roll Star!
2024
Ready, Set, Go! (live, Riverside Studios ’03)
2025
I Can’t Give Everything Away (2002–2016)
2025
The Shel Talmy Recordings
2026
The best of 2020
All of 2020 →
Power Up
AC/DC · 2020
Father of All Motherfuckers
Green Day · 2020
Ordinary Man
Ozzy Osbourne · 2020
Hybrid Theory (20th anniversary edition)
Linkin Park · 2020
Ohms
Deftones · 2020
S&M2
Metallica · 2020
Throw My Bones
Deep Purple · 2020
Gigaton
Pearl Jam · 2020
We Are Chaos
Marilyn Manson · 2020
Beneath the Eyrie Demos, Pt. 2
Pixies · 2020
Beneath the Eyrie Demos, Pt. 1
Pixies · 2020
Lamb of God
Lamb of God · 2020
More on Parlophone
The label →
OK Computer
Radiohead · 1997
Revolver
The Beatles · 1966
Requests
The Beatles · 1964
More Requests
The Beatles · 1964
Norwegian Wood
The Beatles · 1967
The Bends
Radiohead · 1995
Pablo Honey
Radiohead · 1993
Please Please Me
The Beatles · 1963
With The Beatles
The Beatles · 1963
Beatles for Sale
The Beatles · 1964
Pin-Ups Radio Show
David Bowie · 2013
The Endless River
Pink Floyd · 2014
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + wikidata; also seen: 2020-03-20 (musicbrainz+wikipedia alt)
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 20 March 2020 | ignored lone early release dated 2020-02-14 |
| Wikipedia infobox | 14 February 2020 | |
| Wikidata | 14 February 2020 | |
| Wikipedia (other date) | 20 March 2020 | |
| Deezer | 14 February 2020 | |
| UK / Europe release | 20 March 2020 | earliest UK or European date |
3 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 February 2020 | AF | Parlophone | 190295332693 | original |
| 20 March 2020 | XE | ISO Records | 0190295332358 | other |
| 20 March 2020 | XE | Parlophone | 190295301378 | other |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · native: native 4000x4000, downscaled to 3000
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 4000×4000 | native: native 4000x4000, downscaled to 3000 |
| deezer | 1800×1800 | native |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |